Chardonnay - U.S.

Jim Wilson/The New York Times

Chardonnay is not only America’s favorite white wine, it’s America’s favorite wine, period. Cabernet, pinot noir, zinfandel  forget them for the moment. There are more chardonnay vines in American soil than all those red-wine vines put together.

It’s a classic American success story. In the mid-1960s, when Americans would drink any inferior domestic white wine so long as it was mislabeled “Chablis,” there were about 1,000 acres of chardonnay planted in California. By 1988 there were 30,000 acres; by 1995, 53,000; and by 2003, 97,600 acres. And that of course doesn’t count major plantings in Oregon, Washington, New York, Virginia and a dozen other states.

In France, Burgundy produces some of the greatest white wines in the world. Chablis in the north; Meursault and Montrachet in the Côte d’Or; St. Véran, Pouilly-Fuissé and Macon blanc in the south  all are chardonnay. The Burgundy region is big, yet California alone has three times more chardonnay planted than in all of Burgundy. In Champagne country, north of Burgundy, chardonnay is the only white grape allowed. Blanc de blancs Champagnes like Krug’s magnificent Clos du Mesnil are 100 percent chardonnay.

The British wine writer Jancis Robinson has observed that, in the United States in the ’80s and ’90s, chardonnay changed from being a type of wine and “virtually became a brand.” For many Americans in the ’60s and ’70s, both men and women, wine was a pre-dinner aperitif or cocktail long before it was part of the dinner itself. For women, it was a low-alcohol drink to nurse while their companions worked on harder stuff. Bartenders and table waiters got used to hearing women say, “I’ll just have a white wine, please.” At first, much of that white wine was cheap domestic “Chablis.” As tastes changed and Americans began to identify wines by grape names, the imitation Chablis was mostly forgotten, and it became fashionable to be specific and ask for “a glass of chardonnay, please.”

In the early days of the American wine boom, chardonnay was made slightly sweet. Naturally high alcohol contributed to that, but so did the practice of stopping fermentation early to leave a touch of residual sugar in the wine. A generation raised on Coca-Cola but new to wine liked it that way. Sweetness in those chardonnays was accompanied by the taste of oak, supposedly from the barrels in which the wine was aged. Actually it was produced by steeping the wine in oak chips. Often the vanilla-like taste of oak obliterated the natural taste of the wine.

In recent years, the pendulum has swung the other way; the best chardonnays are dry and elegant, like white Burgundy and the best rieslings. And the oak taste has been banished or at least kept to a minimum. Some good California chardonnays now say “unoaked” on the label. As wine drinkers become more sophisticated, so do the wines.

With the need gone to be heavy-bodied, sweet and oaky, good chardonnays can be made all over the country. In addition to California, fine, steely chardonnays are made in New York, Oregon and Washington State.

Among the finest California chardonnays are little known labels like Kongsgaard, Kistler and Paul Hobbs. Fine midpriced chardonnays come from wineries like Gary Farrell, David Ramey and Chalone, while reasonable wines for everyday use include Estancia, Francis Coppola and, from Long Island, Wolfer Estate. — Frank Prial, Jan. 15, 2008

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